First of all, welcome. Historically, the GDR has always been a great place to hang out, with a strong shared sense of community. We're glad you decided to join our ranks.

If you're new to programming, new to programming games, or just new to the GDR, you need to read this thread. It's full of good things, and you won't regret the 5 minutes you spend here.

We try to be as accomodating as possible to new users here, but bear in mind that the enthusiasm of our members is not an infinite resource. Before asking questions, please try to exhaust as many other information sources as possible. Google is your friend.

Posting guidelines!

Generally, we won't stomp down on any threads unless they're totally out of control, or irrelevent. You guys get to choose where the discussion leads us, so these aren't a set of 'rules' as such. That said, here is a listing of the type of posts that we like to see, and will encourage.

Interesting game algorithms and experiments.

Game engine details, and discussion of the merits of different approaches.

Screenshots of what you're working on.

Mock-ups of your project.

Design concepts.

Interesting ways of tackling the same old problem.

Below is a listing of posts we try to discourage. Hopefully, in the resources section below you'll be able to find plenty of information to help you with these kinds of problems:

How do I program a video game?

How do I program (x) system?

How do I make a tile engine?

How do use (x) compiler/interpreter?

How do I make a (insert game) style engine?

Of course, if you're really having trouble with one of the above topics, we'll do our best to help, but please do try to exhaust every other option first, then read How To Ask Questions by Eric S. Raymond.

Notice the difference between the two lists. The first enhances discussion by proposing ideas and then seeing if they work. That's fun. The second asks questions but does not propose anything new or interesting. That gets old pretty fast. The majority of people here are very experienced game programmers. We are not so much interested in questions, but answers.

We are a very DIY minded community. We expect everyone to be able to do research themselves, and if you are incapable of doing that then you should probably post elsewhere. We want interesting new takes on old ideas, and welcome those posts.

Other stuff you should know about the boards

Titling your thread with "Development Log - {SOMETHING}" will make your thread a "development log." This means you get a wrench on your thread icon. The purpose of this is to encourage keeping a log of your trials and tribulations during development in order to spur good discussion and get your project out into the light.

Specific resources:

Last updated: 18th May, 2008

Below are a few quick links which might help get you started. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and if there's any obvious omissions, PM one of the moderators, and we'll put it right.